Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps are being taken to ensure that pupils from all school types are able to access careers information, advice and guidance; and how such access is being monitored and assessed.

Helping all young people to get the careers education and guidance they need to climb the ladder of opportunity is crucial to delivering real social mobility. All maintained schools and pupil referral units have a legal duty to secure access to independent careers guidance for year 8-13 pupils on the full range of education and training options, including apprenticeships. Statutory guidance underpinning the duty is clear that schools should have a careers strategy embedded within a clear framework to improve outcomes for pupils. All academies are encouraged to follow the guidance as a statement of good practice and some have a specific careers requirement written into their funding agreements.

We are investing £90 million over this Parliament to ensure that every young person has access to advice and inspiration to fulfil their potential. This includes further funding for the Careers & Enterprise Company to continue the excellent work it has started. The Company has connected over 1,500 schools and colleges with an Enterprise Adviser, helping to increase the level of employer input into their careers and enterprise programmes.

The quality of careers provision in schools is monitored by Ofsted. The Ofsted common inspection framework was revised in September 2015. Careers provision features within three of the four graded judgements made by inspectors conducting standard school inspections.

Destination measures also help schools to be held to account locally. As of January 2017, we have included destination data in national performance tables. This will help ensure that schools place an even greater importance on helping their pupils to transition successfully to positive destinations.

We want to go further to expand the quality and quantity of careers advice. In the Industrial Strategy Green Paper, published on 23 January 2017, we set out our intention to publish a comprehensive careers strategy for all ages later this year.